NYC Top Comedy Choices for Friday 6/5/15

The Teletubbies being taught about sex by Severus Snape is among the highlights from a crack theatrical comedy troupe that acts out ridiculous stuff it finds on the Internet at The PIT upstairs theatre: Best of Blogologues

Tonight’s recommendations for the best in New York City comedy (in chronological order, with top picks noted and shows over $10 marked with $) include:

7:00 pm ($5): Three improv teams compete in this cutthroat battle for laughs. What’s different about this cage match is it’s judged by adog. Every week features a new human guest judge—whose opinion doesn’t really matter—and a guest canine judge who will actually decide the fates of everyone based on which bowl this dog goes to first. It all happens at Brooklyn’sThe Annoyance Theatre(367 Bedford Avenue; take J/M/Z to Marcy Avenue or L to Lorimer Street):Dog Fight

7:30 pm ($10): Improv group Bucky makes up one long scene in the same location (a winning form that’s helped such teams as Death by Roo Roo win a whole lot of Cage Match victories)—and, whenSNLis on break, sometimes includes star Sasheer Zamata (whenever that happens, consider this a TOP PICK)—at theUCB Easttheatre:Bucky: Thank F#@% It’s Friday!

[TOP PICK]8:00 pm ($10): Improvisors make up a religion based on an audience suggestion—e.g., The Church of the Carrot, The Church of Crime—and then make up hymns, readings, sermons, sacraments, and more on the spot atThe PITupstairs theatre:Fake Church

[TOP PICK][$] [DISCOUNTED] 8:00 pm ($24.75 viaGoldstar[vs. $29 at the door]): The onlyFringeNYCshow to ever include a barbershop quartet singing about alcohol and three rounds for each audience member (for my full review, which includes a rave for the spectacular Nicole DiMattei, please clickhere) is now playing as a perfect show for a date every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at the West Village’sSoho Playhouse(15 Vandam Street, in the downstairs Huron Club):The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking

[TOP PICK]8:30 pm ($10): Before thisMagnetshow, audience members may anonymously submit written confessions, secrets, rants, advice and opinions which will be used onstage by the improvisors—who include such talents as Sebastian Conelli (2014Cage MatchChampionThe Enemy):The Friday Night Sh*w

[TOP PICK]9:00 pm ($10): Cipha Sounds (Hot 97,Chappelle’s Show) thought it would be cool if a hip-hop star told tales and then improvisors made up scenes based on them. This monthly show is the result, with a “secret” music celebrity—who tonight is Erica Mena (Love and Hip Hop)—”mesmerizing the crowd with amazing stories and linguistic darts to spark the creativity of some of the best improvisers in NYC,” the latter being Anthony Atamanuik, Natasha Rothwell, Brandon Gardner, Lydia Hensler, Christian Capozzoli, and/or Shaun Diston at theUCB Easttheatre:Take It Personal: The Hip-Hip Improv Show

[MEGA-TOP PICK][$] 9:30 pm ($20 at the door or $22.09 in advanceonline): A top-notchtheatrical troupethat’s equally fine at compelling acting and split-second comedy uses actual material on the Web, performed verbatim, to craft laugh-out-loud scenes. AnyBlogologuesperformance is worth catching, but this compilation of its very best sketches after 15 themed shows, and starring its top comics Allison Goldberg, Jen Jamula, and Wendy Joy Cooley, is a must-see. Included are such unforgettable bits as “Dolphin Sex” and “Severus Snape Gets It On with Teletubbies.” Take advantage of this limited run (on June 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th) atThe PITupstairs theatre:Best of Blogologues

[TOP PICK]10:00 pm ($10): Musical improv groupPremiere—which features the best improv piano player in the biz, Frank Spitznagel—springboards off an audience suggestion to create a complete story with song and dance atThe Magnettheatre:Premiere: The Improvised Musical

[FREE]10:00 pm: NYC stand-ups (not announced) performing at Queens LIC’sThe Creekupstairs theatre hosted by Neruda Williams…who will be celebrating the birthday of at least one of these comics with cake and beer:The Happy Happy Birthday Show

[TOP PICK]Midnight ($5): “Join filmmaker George Lucas (Radioland Murders) as he embarks upon an exciting new career as a comedian and talk show host! He’ll be joined by his hilarious talk show sidekick, Jar-Jar Binks, as they revolutionize the talk show format the same way Lucas once revolutionized cinema,” with guests Natasha Rothwell (writer forSaturday Night Live), Brandon Scott Wolf (contributor toSNL’s Weekend Update), Emilyn Brodsky (musician featured on HBO’sGirls), and Dru Johnston performing and/or being interviewed at theUCB Easttheatre hosted by the brilliant Connor Ratliff & Shaun Diston:The George Lucas Talk Show, Episode XVI:Indiana Jones and the Temple of June

[TOP PICK]Midnight ($5): A raucous laboratory for wacky ideas, in which comics Jo Firestone, Michael Wolf, Dan Glaser, and Cory Palmer create absurd game shows that they try out using audience members. “After we’ve attempted to create all the game shows, the audience votes on which idea gets to go straight to TV (not really)” atUCB Chelseahosted by the fabulous Jo Firestone, whose delighted facial expressions in response to the ridiculousness are typically the highlights of the evening:The Incredible Game Show Showcase

[FREE]Midnight: “A psychedelic journey through space-time. The stand-ups on this show have seen the other side. They have surfed the waves of consciousness and mastered their superego to a near shamanic level. They are here to guide you on a quest of understanding and wonder. Also, they’re going to be tripping balls” at Queens LIC’sThe Creekupstairs theatre hosted by “the spirit animal of Evan Jones:”The Only One Tripping

Friday Open Mics & Jams

5:00 pm ($5): Two-hour open-mic for 20 stand-ups performing for 5 minutes each, with sign-up onlinehere, at theStand Up NYComedy Club (236 West 78th Street):Stand Up NY Open Mic

5:45 pm (no cover, 1 drink min. for both comics and audience members): Open mic stand-up providing 5-7 minutes per comic, running 1 hour. Arrive 30 minutes before the show to get on the signup sheet. This is a fine opportunity to perform at the only comedy club in the East Village:Eastville Comedy Club Open Mic

[FREE]7:00 pm: Open-mic stand-up, with 3 minutes per comic (unless not many folks show up, in which case there’ll be more time), with names drawn out of a bucket atUCB Eastin the bar area (“Hot Chicks Room”) hosted by Sarah Tollemache and/or Paul Oddo:The Friday Night Hot Chicks Open Mic

[FREE]8:00 pm: An open-mic show that’s first come, first serve, with each comic getting 5 minutes on stage atThe Creekdownstairs lounge in Queens’ Long Island City:Mic and Cheese

From legendary NYC comedy site Brooklyn Vegan: Thank God for Hy Bender’s religiously updated show bible BestNewYorkComedy.com. He is literally the only person in NYC providing daily summaries of what’s happening comedy-wise. It must be exhausting keeping that monster of a website alive…It is your daily comedy itinerary and it scares me how on top of his shit this guy is.

Please feel encouraged to reach out to tell me about comedy shows, hire me for book or screenplay work, or for any other reason by emailing me at hy@hyreviews.com.